Wimbledon has made
its way around once again even though it only seems like yesterday that Andy
Murray thrilled us all by lifting the trophy for the first time. If you’ve been
swept up in the Wimbledon madness, as many people do, then why not create your
own SW19 in your back garden. Here’s how…
The court
Obviously the first
thing you need is a court, otherwise there will be no play whatsoever! There’s
no need to paint lines on the grass (unless you really want to); instead you
can do a couple of other things in order to mark out a court. You can pin some
ribbon in place to create a rectangle or you can throw the rule book out the
window and not have a court marked out. Any part of the grass counts!
Equipment
You then, of course,
need some racquets, a net and a ball. Unless you have a huge garden (and plenty
of money), then you won’t be able to do things professionally here, but you can
still get good enough equipment to have a decent knockabout. You can buy garden
tennis sets like these from Tesco which have all you need to get
started.
Clothing
If you want to do
things by the book then you need to get the Wimbledon clothing right, and that
means you have to wear all white. Everything from your trainers to your t-shirt
to your underwear (yes, really) needs to be white, and the Wimbledon officials
can get very picky if you don’t follow the rules!
Play into the evening
Wimbledon used to
just be a day-time tournament but now it can go on until all hours of the
evening, meaning you don’t have to stop play just because the Sun’s going down.
If you get the right lighting for your garden then you too can play as long as
you like, perfect if you’re in the middle of a tense final set. See here for some great outdoor lighting to make your own
floodlit Centre Court.
Food and drink
You can’t have
Wimbledon without some strawberries and cream, and this is the perfect little
snack if you’re having a garden party at the same time. A glass of champagne
also goes down a treat if you feel like going a little more fancy.
Unfortunately, players are restricted to a couple of bites of a banana and some
Robinson’s squash, but they do get someone to stand over them with an
umbrellas.
Rain stops play
As with the real
Wimbledon, rain may well stop play, so you need a contingency plan in case this
happens. Centre Court now has a roof on it, so you could set up a temporary
gazebo or marquee to shelter you from the rain or you could rope the kids in to
pull a big sheet of tarpaulin across the grass when it starts to rain. Cliff
Richard impersonators are optional.
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